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CANADA SET FOR KENYA CLASH

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the amended dates for the fifth round fixtures of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Championship and the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2011-2013 between Kenya and Canada.

Initially scheduled to commence on 14 March, the fixtures have been moved forward to accommodate logistical and scheduling requirements of the two teams, and will feature two ICC WCL Championship ODIs (11 and 13 March) and one ICC Intercontinental Cup four-day encounter (18-21 March). All matches will be played at the ICC Global Cricket Academy in Dubai.

Kenya is currently sixth in the ICC WCL Championship, leading eight-placed Canada by three points. The WCL Championship provides a direct qualification pathway for Associate and Affiliate Members to the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2015, which will be staged in Australia and New Zealand. The top two teams in the WCL Championship will automatically join the ICC's 10 Full Members at the ICC CWC 2015, while the final two qualifiers will be determined at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in early 2014.

In the ICC Intercontinental Cup, Kenya leads Canada by one position, in seventh spot.

Other fifth round fixtures for the two events, featuring the top eight Associate and Affiliate Members, are also scheduled for March and April 2013.

From 3 March, a battle for second place in the Intercontinental Cup will take place between Afghanistan and Scotland in the UAE, while WCL Championship leader Ireland takes on fourth-placed UAE a week later. Namibia will host the Netherlands from 11 April 2013 in Windhoek

The points table of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Championship can be found by clicking here.

An up-to-date points table plus all the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2011-2013 results in the competition will be available here.

ICC World Cricket League (WCL)

The WCL – including the Championship and the ongoing global divisions – is an important event structure on the calendar of the Pepsi ICC Development Programme, as it provides a dual pathway for Associate and Affiliate Members to qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2015, to be staged in Australia and New Zealand.

The top two teams from the WCL Championship will automatically join the ICC's 10 Full Members at the ICC CWC 2015. The bottom six teams then join teams from WCL Divisions 2 and 3 in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in early 2014, where the final two qualifiers will be determined.

To read more about the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Championship, please click here.

ICC Intercontinental Cup

The ICC Intercontinental Cup has quickly grown in stature and profile since its inception eight years ago. The ICC's premier first-class tournament is an integral part of the Associate Members' cricket schedule.

There will be a total of US$254,000 in prize money for the Associate and Affiliate teams taking part in the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2011-13, with US$100,000 for the winners and US$40,000 for the runners-up.

Teams finishing in third and fourth place will receive US$20,000 and US$10,000 respectively, while an outright win by any team during the course of the round-robin stage will see it walk away with US$3,000 per match.

Having previously been designed around a two-group, three-day format, the event then evolved into an eight-team, round-robin and truly global tournament featuring four-day cricket. This gives those teams who do not play Test cricket the chance to experience the longer form of the game.

Scotland won the first ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2004, beating Canada in the final, while Ireland has been victorious in three events since then, beating Kenya in the 2005 decider, Canada in the 2006-07 event, and Namibia in 2007-08 event. In 2009-10, Afghanistan won the competition and Scotland finished second on the points table.